G A L L I N I D M. 



593 



turkeys learn to distinguish such birds, and select 

 them with great care, as they are reckoned finer food 

 than either the males or the fertile females. At one 

 season of the year, generally about tho month ot 

 March, both of these, and more especially the males, 

 become so lean, that they are hardly fit for the table, 

 while, at this season, the barren females are under- 

 stood to remain in as prime condition as at any other. 

 What proportion these barren females, which there 

 is some reason to suppose are more numerous in this 

 genus than in any of the others, may bear to the 

 total number of the birds, has not been ascertained ; 

 but it would almost appear as though a natural provi- 

 sion were made in this race of a surplus for human 

 food, in the same manner as a similar surplus is often 

 obtained by artificial mutilation in domestic poultry, 

 and in some other animals. 



When America was first discovered, the wild tur- 

 key was found in abundance along the whole range 

 from Canada to near the isthmus of Darien, though it 

 does not appear ever to have been met with further 

 to the south ; and even in Mexico it was less plenti- 

 ful, and of inferior quality, clearly indicating that its 

 rtue home is in the temperate latitudes. The absurd 

 name of " turkey" is given to it only in England ; and 

 it originated in the time of Henry VIII., when every 

 thing of foreign production which was highly es- 

 teemed, had the same epithet given to it. It even 

 found its way into the Latin dictionaries, as Gallus 

 Numidicus, as if it had came from the north of Africa ; 

 and so prevalent was the error that the eminent 

 naturalist Ray, and after him the honourable Daines 

 Barrington, described it as a native of Africa, and the 

 tropical parts of Asia, whereas it is not found in either 

 of these quarters of the world, neither is it a tropical 

 bird. 



The settlers in North America, appear to have 

 been much more intent upon killing the wild turkeys, 

 and cutting down their favourite forests, than in attend- 

 ing to their natural history, or inquiring whether they 

 it. not have been profitably preserved in a country 

 which, like the United States, must continue, compa- 

 ratively at least, thinly peopled for ages. 



It is now rare in the southern states, Florida, 

 Georgia, and the Carolinas ; very rare in the states 

 of the centre of the Union ; and in the north-east 

 it has bjeen extinct for a century and a half. The 

 western states on the Mississippi, and its affluents, 

 where the woods are still remaining, are now the head 

 quarters of these birds in a state of nature ; and it is 

 not supposed that the birds are at all known in the 

 elevated parts of the Rocky Mountains or the country 

 beyond. We shall here make an extract of the ac- 

 count of their manners in the wild state, as given by, 

 or rather to, Prince Charles Lucien Buonaparte, as 

 it is the most circumstantial that has appeared, and 

 as the turkey is known with us only as a domestic, 

 and, in fact, as a degenerate bird. 



" The wild turkeys," say these describers, " do not 

 confine themselves to any particular kind of food ; 

 they eat maize, all sorts of berries, fruits, grasses, 

 beetles, and even tadpoles ; young frogs, and lizards, 

 are occasionally found in their crops ; but when the 

 pecan nut is plenty, they prefer that fruit to any other 

 nourishment ; their more general predilection is, 

 however, for the acorn, on which they rapidly fatten. 

 When an unusually profuse crop of acorns is produced 

 in a particular section of country, great numbers of 

 turkeys are enticed from their ordinary haunts in the 



NAT. HIST. VOL. II. 



surrounding districts. About the beginning of Octo- 

 ber, while the mast still remains on the trees, they 

 assemble in flocks, and direct their course to the rich 

 bottom lands. At this season they are observed in 

 great numbers on the Ohio and 'Mississippi. The 

 time of this irruption is known to the Indian's by the 

 name of the turkey month. 



" The males, usually termed gobblers, associate in 

 parties, numbering from ten to a hundred, and seek 

 their food apart from the females ; whilst the latter 

 either move about singly with their young, then nearly 

 two-thirds grown, or, in company with other females 

 and their families, form troops, sometimes consisting 

 of seventy or eighty individuals, all of whom are 

 intent on avoiding the old males, who, whenever 

 opportunity offers, attack and destroy the young, by 

 repeated blows on the skull. All parties, however, 

 travel in the same direction, and on foot, unless thev 

 are compelled to seek their individual safety by flying 

 from the hunter's dog, or their march is impeded by a 

 large river. When about to cross a river, they select 

 the highest eminences, that their flight may be the 

 more certain ; and here they sometimes remain for a 

 day or more, as if for the purpose of consultation, or 

 to be duly prepared for so hazardous a voyage. 

 During this time the males gobble obstreperously, and 

 strut with extraordinary importance, as if they would 

 animate their companions, and inspire them with the 

 utmost degree of hardihood ; the females and young 

 also assume much of the pompous air of the males, 

 the former spreading their tails, and moving silently 

 around. At length the assembled multitude mount 

 to the tops of the highest trees, whence, at a signal 

 note from a leader, the whole together wing their 

 way towards the opposite shore. All the old and fat 

 ones cross without difficulty, even when the river ex- 

 ceeds a mile in width ; but the young, meagre, and 

 weak, frequently fall short of the desired landing, and 

 are forced to swim for their lives ; this they do dex- 

 terously enough, spreading their tails for a support, 

 closing their wings to the body, stretching the neck 

 forwards, and striking out quickly and forcibly with 

 their legs. If, in thus endeavouring to regain the 

 land, they approach an elevated or inaccessible bank, 

 their exertions are remitted, they resign themselves to 

 the stream for a short time, in order to gain strength, 

 and then with one violent effort escape from the 

 water. But in this attempt, all are not successful ; 

 some of the weaker, as they cannot rise sufficiently 

 high in air to clear the bank, fall again and again into 

 the water, and thus miserably perish. Immediately 

 after the turkeys have succeeded in crossing a river, 

 they for some time ramble about without any apparent 

 unanimity of purpose, and a great many are destroyed 

 by the hunters although they are then least valuable. 



" " When the turkeys have arrived in their land of abun- 

 dance, they disperse in small flocks, composed of indi- 

 viduals of all sexes and ages intermingled, who devour 

 all the mast as they advance : this occurs about, the 

 middle of November. It has been observed, that, after 

 these long journeys, the turkeys become so familiar as 

 to venture on the plantations, and even approach so 

 near the farm-houses, as to enter the stables and corn 

 cribs in search of food ; in this way they pass the 

 autumn, and part of the winter. During this season 

 great numbers are killed by the inhabitants, who pre- 

 serve them in a frozen state, in order to transport 

 them to a distant market. Early in March they begin 

 to pair ; mid, for a short time previous, the females 

 PP 



